If they have a good candidate and the only problem is debt, they should offer to pay it off. They have no qualms printing billions to save some broken banks.
Someone with lots of debt likely has some aspirations of foreign travel to risky locales, regardless of what they say… so it makes sense why that would be a disqualifier.
I'm not sure how that's relevant. The goal is to assess the individual's susceptibility to coercion. Maintaining safety from kidnapping while traveling can certainly be a concern when you hold a clearance, but simply taking your family on a vacation overseas is not among the high concerns. If you have bad debt where you are drowning financially, or if you have strong foreign ties or connections, or other behavioral risks, they make you susceptible to coercion. Selling secrets to adversaries to repay loan sharks, being extorted using threats against overseas family members, getting drunk or high and divulging secrets, secrets in exchange for drugs, etc.
